Article
Article
Mitochondrial replacement therapy
Article By:
Waikel, Rebekah L. Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky.
Last reviewed:September 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.428250
A microsurgical procedure to provide an oocyte (an immature egg cell or ovum) possessing dysfunctional mitochondria with healthy mitochondria. Mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) strategies could allow women who are carriers of mitochondrial disorders an opportunity to have healthy children. The success of a promising experimental MRT called spindle transfer (Fig. 1) was realized in April 2016 with the birth of a baby with the nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (nDNA) of the mother and father and the mitochondria of a donor female egg. A baby resulting from MRT is sometimes referred to as a three-person baby because he or she possesses the genetic material of three different individuals. Because MRT is an unorthodox treatment, it has bioethical repercussions and is a controversial issue. See also: Bioethics; Biotechnology; Congenital anomalies; Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); Genetic engineering; Genetics; Human genetics; Human genome; Mitochondrial DNA; Ovum; Prenatal diagnosis; Reproductive technology
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